Current and Returning Students
Interested in living in a vibrant community where your fellow classmates are right down the hall? Want the convenience of living close to your classes, dining locations, and study spaces? If you answered yes, then Campus Housing is here to help you find the perfect on-campus home! Check out all of the options available to you on our Residence Hall Information page. If you would like information about housing accommodations please visit the Center for Disability Services. To view policies and procedures for students living in on-campus housing, visit Residence Life.
Campus Housing updates for 2023-2024
Good news! CofC students returning next year will be able to apply for housing without the limitations we faced last year. The housing application will open February 1 and you will need to apply no later than February 15. Students who apply after February 15 will be placed on a waitlist and housed on a space-available basis.
The residence halls available to incoming and returning students change each year. Take a look at what will be available to you during room selection.
How to Apply for Fall Housing
Roommate Group Formation
Room Selection
Cancellation
Waitlist for Housing
Summary of Important Dates
Off-Campus Housing List
How to Apply for Fall Housing
Note: Fall 2023 housing applications open February 1, 2023. The deadline for returning students to complete their housing application is February 15, 2023.
Please review the 2023-2024 Housing Contract (PDF or HTML). You will sign this contract during the housing application process. Housing contracts are binding for the entire academic year (both fall and spring semesters).
Step One: Complete your application
Beginning February 1, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., you may access the 2023-2024 housing application. Log into MyPortal and click the MyHousing/Dining portal tile. Click the Apply for Housing or Meal Plan button and pay the $200 housing prepayment and the $50 application fee.
Note: If you have concerns about making the $200 housing prepayment and have applied for or received financial aid (loans, scholarships or grants) for the upcoming academic year, continue reading this paragraph. You may apply to have the $200 housing prepayment deferred. The deadline to apply for deferment is February 13 for regular applications and March 26 for waitlisted students (to allow review time before the application deadline). To get the deferment, you will need to complete a prepayment deferment page within the housing application, where you will upload an electronic copy of your 2023-24 Student Aid Report (SAR) from the FAFSA webpage listing College of Charleston. (See sample SAR here.) Please have this ready when you apply. Once you complete the deferment page, Campus Housing will review your submission within 24 hours (except weekends). You will receive an email once the deferment has been processed. At that time, you will be able to finish completing your application.
After you have made your payments, you may continue the housing application. During the application process, you will designate your housing emergency contact, answer profile questions, select a meal plan, and sign your housing contract.
Optional: Once you've completed your application, you may form an optional roommate group. Returning students can form roommate groups until February 20. (Note that you must still complete your housing application no later than February 15.) You can also select housing individually, without forming a roommate group. Read more about roommate groups below.
Step Two: Room Selection
You will get your assigned time slot via email on February 21, 2023. This time slot is when you’ll be able to access the Room Selection function of your application. Your time slot is determined by your earned credit hours as of December 2022.
Roommate Group Formation
Do you have other students you want to live with? Consider forming a roommate group so you can all select housing together.
- Groups must have at least two people and no more than eight, and groups must be fully formed and verified by February 20, 2023, at noon.
- Your group room selection time slot will be based on an average of all group members’ earned credit hours as of December 2022.
To find roommates and form a group, go to the ROOMMATE SELECTION page of the housing application. You can search for potential roommates or go straight to forming a roommate group if you already know who you want your roommate(s) to be. You will need to choose a group leader, which you can do before or after you form a group. The group leader will be the one logging in and selecting the space during room selection.
There are two ways to form a group:
- One way is for a student to create a group name and password to send to all roommates. Each roommate will search for the group, enter the password and join the group. (The person creating the group will be the default group leader.)
- The second way is to find roommates’ names in the portal and, next to their name, click on Add to Group. Each roommate will need to accept the invitation to join the group.
Regardless of how the group is formed, once all members have joined the group, the group leader will need to log back in and click the VERIFY button.
Once the roommate group has been verified by the group leader, Campus Housing will calculate the average earned credit hours and will assign a selection time slot to the group. The group will get their assigned time slot on February 21. During their time slot, the group leader will select housing for the group by clicking on the ROOM SELECTION page in the housing application. The group leader will select a building and room from what is available at the time of selection, and they'll assign bed spaces to each member of the group. Once your group leader selects housing, you are no longer eligible to select a room space on your own. All roommate groups need to be formed by February 20, 2023, at noon to select as a group. After that date, no one can be added to or removed from a group and any students not in a group will need to select spaces individually.
Room Selection
To be assigned a time slot to select housing, students must have completed their housing application between February 1 and February 15. Students will be emailed their assigned time slot on February 21. Room selection for returning students will begin February 23 based on earned credit hours as of December 2022.
You will have the opportunity to select any space that is open to returning students during your selection time slot. You can find general instructions for how to select your room on our Room Selection page.
If you decide you'd like to change your room selection after confirming it, it's also easy to change your room. From the Application Status page, click the Room Change button. Select your new building on the Room Change Building Selection page, then choose your new room on the Room Change Room List by clicking Add to Cart. Select and/or assign beds on the Room Change-Assign Beds page and then confirm your newly selected room(s) and bed(s) by clicking Confirm Room Change. Your room selection has been changed after that. Note: Your original bed will now be available for other students to select.
Cancellation
If necessary, you may cancel your housing application and bed space online using the CANCELLATION button on the homepage of the MyHousing/Dining portal. The cancellation will be timestamped and processed as soon as possible. If you leave the College for any reason (withdrawal, transfer, leave of absence, graduation, academic dismissal, etc.), please cancel your housing application online immediately. Notifying another campus department of your reason does not automatically cancel your housing application and room reservation. Cancellation penalties will apply based on the date of cancellation.
- February 1 - March 31: Students may cancel their housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $200 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by March 31, 2023.
- April 1 - May 31: Students may cancel their housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $500 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by May 31, 2023.
- June 1 - August 18: Students may cancel their academic year housing contract during this time; however, a cancellation penalty of $1,000 will be charged to the student’s eBill account. The cancellation must be received via the MyHousing/Dining portal by August 18, 2023.
Waitlist for Housing
If you did not complete a housing application by February 15, 2023, you may add your name to our waitlist. To do so, you will click on the Apply for Housing / Meal Plan button within the MyHousing/Dining portal, and you will be guided by prompts to join the waitlist. You will be contacted if space becomes available.
Summary of Important Dates
Please read above for detailed information regarding these deadlines.
February 1 Housing application opens
February 15 Deadline for returning students to complete housing application
February 20 Deadline to form roommate groups; groups must be verified by group leader
February 21 Students emailed with time slot for room selection
February 23 Room selection begins based on earned credit hours
Off-Campus Housing List
If you are thinking about off-campus housing, we’ve provided an overview of some of the larger housing providers in our area, which are located within approximately two miles of campus. These are not affiliated with the College of Charleston in any way, and we cannot and do not endorse or recommend any specific provider. We are simply providing this limited information as a mere courtesy.
If you have any questions regarding the housing application process, please feel free to contact Campus Housing via email at housing@cofc.edu, phone at 843.953.2015, or in person at 40 Coming Street.